Friends and associates of the Principal Secretary to former President, Goodluck Jonathan, Mallam Hassan Tukur have bursted what they call ‘the balloons of lies’ against the politician who was recently arrested by the EFCC.

Following the circulated and misleading online reports about, Hassan Tukur who has been detained over the supposed Chibok girls' $40m Scam.

It was reported in the news that Mallam Tukur pocketed $35m (thirty-five million dollars) out of $40m (forty million dollars); given to facilitate the negotiation of the release of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls by the Boko Haram sect; and only $5m (five million dollars) was given to the Chadian President, Idriss Derby.

In the same ominous report, Tukur was alleged to ferry the money to the Chadian capital with Nigeria’s presidential jet, which raises a lot of concerns that the whole story is either a figment of the writer’s imagination, an attempt to be mischievous or a total reliance on a mere gossip.

The said story has raised some persistent concerns on the need for all journalists to adhere to the ethics of the profession and conduct researches and through investigations before going online with any story.

“We were surprised that the story about Mallam Hassan Tukur collecting any amount of money on behalf of the abducted Chibok girls was so plainly incorrect and misleading!”, Mr. Akeem Babalola, a very close associate of the detained man said.

He went on to say, “As you’ll see, there are three specific issues with to augment in the said story. The questions that readily come to mind here is: what was the money meant for? Was it to be distributed to members of Boko Haram for them to free the girls? Was it meant for logistics? Why was part of the money given to Chadian President (if any)? Was it given to him on his personal capacity or to ministry of finance? Was the money meant to buy weapons for Chadian army? These and others, are pertinent questions those vilifying Tukur should ask themselves before any further action.

“The insinuation that Tukur has been singing in the EFCC cell, implicating Jonathan and others, who worked under him, is nothing but the imagination of the writer. Tukur was not involved in the sharing of the money; if at all any money was shared.

“For the avoidance of doubt Tukur never got a kobo from the so called negotiation deal. Being the man he is he would not have been part of the looting of this great country as we are been made to believe in the said story”.

As published by the report in question, Tukur indeed served President Muhammad Buhari as a military Head of State and he did that without blemish as corroborated by many who have known him.

Hassan Tukur was appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan as Principal Secretary based on his track record of loyalty, integrity and accountability.

He had served this country at the highest level as professional and career driven personality and should be accorded such respect.